State(s): Texas
Link: https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm
Days: 3
Month: December
Hotel: Space Cowboys, Ten Bits Ranch
Hikes: 9 = 15.65 miles
National Park Visit Order: #17
Ice Cream: Local gas station/market
For this trip, we explored Big Bend National Park, Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River, Fort Davis National Historic Site, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and White Sands National Park. We made several other stops along the way too!
Day 0
Two nights before traveling, my foot started hurting quite a bit. The next day I thought I was going to be on crutches through the trip – thankfully, that wasn’t needed. Because of my foot issue, we had to shuffle some of our Big Bend National Park trip around; don’t rely on this article for the most optimal way of doing things.
We flew into El Paso. After stopping at an Amazon locker to pickup an exercise ball for my foot, we made a pit stop at Desert Oak BBQ for lunch. I had a pulled pork sandwich with green chile rice as a side and a fresh prickly pear lemonade. Colleen had a loaded potato with turkey and a fresh raspberry lemonade. We were very happy with our lunch choice, the food was fantastic!
We drove for a couple hours toward Big Bend National Park and took a break, stopping at Lowe’s Market in Alpine, TX to get water and breakfast/lunch food for our trip.
Next, we headed to our home for the next two nights – Space Cowboys (specifically pod 007). We checked in and Slava drove us up to our pod with our luggage so we didn’t have to carry it all up the hill. This place turned out to be perfect for us. It has some semi-modern amenities but did a great job keeping the light pollution to an absolute minimum.
Once settled in, we fueled up our car and headed to the historic Starlight Theatre for dinner. I had the chicken fried antelope – I never had antelope before and this plate was great! Colleen had chicken sauté – both of us had mashed potatoes, green beans, and a roll. For dessert, we had Mexican vanilla ice cream, and churros with chocolate sauce. We really enjoyed all our food! While we were ordering, and later eating our food, there was live music we were able to enjoy too.
Once we arrived back at our space pod, we watched stars in the pure dark night! We highly recommend staying there for a couple nights.
Day 1
We started the day early, waking up to see the sunrise. My foot was feeling a lot better after some early morning foot exercises but not quite right still.
We headed out to Chisos Basin Visitor Center to get a stamp and some supplies that we forgot.
Our first hike was the Chisos Basin Loop Trail, a moderate 1.9 mile trail. There were safety signs at the beginning as it was black bear and mountain lion country. The terrain was a but rocky. Overall, it was a nice rugged hike but was hot already even though it was still early in the morning.
Next up was a quick one – Window View Trail, 0.3 mile easy. It was paved and provided nice views of the window.
Then we headed to the Fossil Discovery Exhibit. We enjoyed our lunch outside at a pavilion, the boneyard. Once we were done with lunch, we walked through exhibit then up to the overlook. At this point, the temperature was reaching 84*.
Our next stop was at Sam Nail Ranch, an easy 0.5 miles lollipop trail. This was a quick little hike to see what’s left of an old ranch. It’s amazing that some walls were still (partially) still standing from over 100 years ago.
We were planning to walk to the Homer Wilson Ranch but opted to stay at the overlook as the walk was pretty steep and my foot was still bothering me.
Our final trail of the day was the Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff Trail, an easy 1 mile trail. It had lots of sand/gravel but mostly flat. It was pretty cool at the end. It’s amazing what water can do to rock over time. This ended up being the bottom section of an area we hiked on day 2. We both agreed, this trail had the better view at the end, although the upper trail was a much more fun hike.
Our last stop in the park was the Sotol Vista Overlook. We took in a quick scenic view then headed back to Space Cowboys to shower and plan for the next day. For Christmas dinner we headed to High Sierra Bar and Grill. We both had the Christmas meal – which included roasted chicken (with agave, meyer lemon, stone ground mustard, fresh crema), 3 cheese au gratin potatoes, baby carrots, and apple sauce glaze. It was finished off with blueberry pie. Everything was very good, but the piece of pie was very small. We were really hoping for some ice cream so we stopped at a market on the way back; it was Christmas and we ate what we wanted to.
As we got back, the sun was starting to set and it quickly became very dark! It was another nice night with plenty of stars. I took a video of the stars moving with a GoPro; it was very cool. I highly recommend bringing a GoPro (or another video camera) to track the night stars, you won’t be disappointed.
Day 2
This morning we woke up pumped and ready to go. My foot was feeling much better so I was ready to kick it up a notch. We snapped a quick picture of the park sign with the morning sky in the background, it was beautiful.
We arrived at Lost Mind Trail at 7:39am and there was no where to park, including overflows. We continued on and headed to Window Trail, a 4.7 mile moderate trail. We parked at the amphitheater parking lot labeled for hikers. Follow hiker arrows through campground. It was downhill the way out and very rocky. We saw a cottontail run across the trail. There were really cool stone steps in the last 1/4 mile out. Amazing views at the end! The hike back was harder as it was mostly uphill, overall it was worth it though.
Next, we had lunch before starting the Upper Burro Mesa Pouroff Trail, a 3.5 mile moderate hike. It had rock scrambling and overall, was a lot of fun. At the end you climb down some rocks that lead you to an overlook. It can be a little tricky getting back up. There were a few nice people over there helping people get back up. On the way back, we found some tarantulas sun bathing. Overall great hike!
Then we stopped at Castolon Visitor Center. They had the restrooms open and ice cream bars (which we did get) but they did not have a water bottle refill station. At this point it was 84*.
Our final hike for the day was at Santa Elena Canyon Trail, an easy 1.6 mile trail. You start off on the trail, then cross over the Terlingua Creek. This was great in the afternoon – it was nice and shady. This was very different than any other trails we had gone to at this park. There were grass and tress around the trail since it’s right next to the Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River.
Our final stop was at Mule Ears Overlook, a pretty cool looking formation.
Then we checked into our room for the night – the Ten Bits Ranch. Each of the rooms at this ranch are buildings themed to essentially build a small city – we stayed at the bath house. Other room examples are a school house, bank, general store, etc.
For dinner we headed to El Gordos Grill – a food truck with Mexican food. I had al pastor tacos and Colleen had chicken fajitas tacos. They were really good! For dinner, I would recommend getting more than 4 tacos though – we were both a little hungry after as these were very small street style tacos. Not to worry, we fueled up down the road, and also purchased some ice cream.
Day 3
While on our way to the park, we saw a gray fox run across the road. Once inside the park, I pulled over to catch a few shots of the beautiful sunrise.
We arrived at Lost Mine Trail by 7:28am and it was full already. We continued on to the Rio area of the park. We saw a mouse run across the road. Further down the road we saw a deer run across the road.
By the time we stopped at Sunken Block Overlook, our morning was already filled with a lot of wildlife!
Our first hike was at Boquillas Canyon Trail, an easy 1.4 mile out and back trail. When first starting the trail, there are some cute Mexican gifts for sale – don’t buy them though as they are illegally sold items. Although this trail is easy, there are a lot of steps. There was also a lot of horse poop, so watch your step. Toward the end we saw a wild horse. It was watching us for a few moments then headed across the Rio Grande to Mexico.
Next, we stopped at the Boquillas Overlook. Here there were significantly more items illegally for sale. There was a great view of the Boquillas Village, as well as the Rio Grande.
Then we headed to the Rio Grande Visitor Center to get a stamp and checked out the Rio Grande Store down the road.
Our final trail for Big Bend, was the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail. On the way from the store toward the campground, there’s a sign for a little parking area (on the right) before you get to the campground. Then while on foot, follow the signs through the campground to the nature trail. The trail is an easy 0.75 miles. There were several birds in this area as you walk over ponds. There’s lots of little fish too. If you keep going, you’ll come across more illegal goods for sale.
We saw 3-4 horses on the way to Panther Junction Visitor Center. We continued on toward Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. At one point we were forced off the freeway and through a border patrol station.
We took a pit-stop in Marathon, Texas at Brick Vault BBQ. I had brisket, mac & cheese with green chilies and elote. Colleen had turkey, mac & cheese, and slaw. Everything was so good!
Our next adventure continued at Fort Davis National Historic Site.
